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AUQA confirms USC's significant achievements
17 February 2007
Last Wednesday the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) released its audit findings on this University. I have to say that I am delighted with their report. It is very fair, emphasising our strengths, as well as areas where we can effect improvements. But it is overwhelmingly positive, especially on programs for students and regional engagement.
Every university is subjected to an official audit of this kind every five years, and some turn out to be very contentious, but ours has not come up with any surprises, or anything that we would want to dispute.
An independent, high-profile panel visited the University for almost a week, and also meticulously scrutinised a huge amount of documentary evidence, to obtain a detailed insight into our functioning, here and overseas.
The AUQA team were impressed with our “significant achievements since inception”, our “rigorous program approval process”, our “genuine and productive” regional engagement commitment, the “dedication of USC’s staff to the University and its mission” and the list goes on. It mentions work-integrated learning, the high regard by students, the environmental theme within the capital development program, the GO (Global Opportunities) Program, curriculum design, quality homestay programs for English language students, and the effectiveness of “Headstart” school links.
These are the very areas we have sought to advance and we now have international recognition that we have been successful.
For some time, we have been aware that the area in which we have to continue to invest is ‘research’, and AUQA has affirmed that we are rightly committed to improve research performance.
Last year there was extensive discussion about research in the University. One of the major impediments of course is, that unlike the UK, Australia does not support a funded research scheme for engagement activities, as such. A recent OECD report on developing research in new universities indicates that lack of government support for these institutions is a world wide problem in their sample of 25 universities across 17 countries. The older universities, developed in less competitive times, when there was a more benign policy environment, have established close links with policy-makers, often acting as a cartel, the report suggested.
Notwithstanding these obstacles to developing research, we are totally committed to continue the advancement of USC as a major teaching and research University through this century, and the report evidences our huge success to date, in a short time.
Professor Paul Thomas AM is Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Sunshine Coast.